Oh Rats

When we arrived at the boat yard on the morning of December 23rd, I was wide eyed and smiling. I immediately ran up to the hull of our Lil’ G and hugged and kissed her. But if I had known what we were about to find inside I would have apologized to her instead and kept my lips, and my entire body for that matter, at a distance. There had been rats, and I can’t say for sure but it appeared that they had been throwing some wild parties on our boat while we were away. I wish I was exaggerating, but this is what it looked like after we pulled almost everything out of the cabin and hand pumped around eight inches of green water out through the bilge. 

In my previous post, I wrote that the amount of work it was going to take to get Lil’ G back in the water was a bit daunting, and although I do believe everything great in life is worth working for, we couldn’t have imagined what a struggle it was going to be. And quite frankly, I’m not sure we would have considered it worth it. Between the rats, the ever-growing list of repairs and projects, and a boat yard that has a bad case of the Keys disease, this experience has been frustrating and painful. 

Over the last two weeks we’ve sanitized and cleaned; sorted and organized everything that stayed on board this summer and then sanitized and cleaned again; we cut back branches that bridged the otherwise unclimbable gap between the ground and the bow of our boat; we soaked and scrubbed the cushions with bleach, and washed all the cushion covers and curtains; we sanded and filled about fifty blisters on the hull; we tested the outboard motor, and rebuilt the motor carburetor in hopes of getting it running again; we removed and replaced a number of corroded pulleys, screws and latches; we re-attached the boom, the mainsail and all of the running rigging; we removed and repaired and replaced the centerboard and all it’s rigging; we removed the unused propeller and fiberglassed over the hole; and we made about twenty-five trips to Home Depot and West Marine. Well actually, I’m using “we” as if both Adam and I not only did all this work, but both have the capability to do all this work, which just isn’t true. Adam did a majority of the things listed here because he is knowledgable and hardworking and fierce, while I did a fair share of the cleaning and assisted him with projects and asked a lot of questions he probably didn’t want to answer. I couldn’t be more grateful for his skill and his persistence! 

After the list and the photos, I really wish that I was about to type, ‘but it has all been worth it because we’re back aboard our Lil’ G ready for some sailing and some sea play!’ But sadly, she is still up on blocks and awaiting new bottom paint. We have our fingers crossed that the boat yard will make our scheduled splash date of January 7th, and hope a rush on the their behalf doesn’t compromise the work they do. 

On the bright side though, we didn’t have a cockroach infestation and the rats didn’t chew any wiring that we’re aware of, and we are grateful for the fact that our boat is resembling our memory from last winter more than the condition we found it in when we arrived a couple of weeks ago. The worst of it is behind us now and we are so excited for what lay ahead. We even took a moment yesterday to relish in our progress and laid down for a bit in the Vberth, resting our weary selves and enjoying the cool breeze from the hatch above. And for a moment, I closed my eyes and felt the gentle rocking that awaits us at anchor in a calm harbor.

Cheers and Happy Holidays from the Boat Yard Gang!